Smile
by I Lurk In The Bunneh Factory
Summary: A little Yullen oneshot, not set in any particular time in the storyline. Enjoy!


"Kanda."

Pause.

"Kanda."

He pretended not to hear. It was so troublesome, having someone like _that_ hang around you.

"Kanda! Kan-daaaaaaa - "

Irritated, he looked up from the half-eaten plate of soba.

"What do you want?"

"Nothing. It's just - "

"Then get lost."

Allen pressed on, as though he hadn't heard the scathing reply.

"It's a special day today!"

Kanda froze for a moment.

He couldn't _know,_ could he? That useless guy?

Kanda composed himself, and rearranged his face into its usual scowl.

"Why would I care?"

"Because -"

"Now get lost or I'll - "

Allen just flashed him a bright smile. "It's fine, you'll see." He left, his grin – or was it a smirk? – getting wider by the minute.

Kanda watched, suspicious, as Allen left the café.

Of course he knew what day it was. Nobody ever did, but Kanda never forgot. How could he? Something so insignificant, yet so important to him.

Not that he'd ever let anyone know _that_.

That fool wasn't referring to _that_ day, of course. He couldn't be. He couldn't know.

Kanda finished the last of the lukewarm strands and downed the tea in one gulp – he, unlike certain good-for-nothing people, had better things to do than to bug his colleagues. And for no reason at all! Why did the Black Order decide to waste precious resources on that shameless, brainless and useless fellow? One who also wasted his colleagues' time and energy?

Getting up, Kanda turned and left the café.

"Yuu -"

He swiveled around. "I thought I told you to just get the hell -"

"Wha-?" Mugen's point lay on the bare neck of – Lavi?

Surprised, Kanda stopped himself from disconnecting head from body, but held his weapon in place.

"What do you want?" He glared.

"Allen told me to tell you, he's waiting in his room." Lavi grinned nervously. "Don't know what he's up to, but tell me when you find out, yeah?"

_Why do I have to be surrounded by __these blithering idiots?_

Mugen's tip now dangerously close to its target, Kanda resisted the suddenly all-too-strong temptation to follow through his attack. Gingerly, Lavi inched away from Mugen's tip.

"I'll let you off this time. Tell the idiot I won't be there. So I won't have to see that face of his," Kanda growled, his glare threatening to incinerate the poor Exorcist on the spot.

"Uh, okay, relax, just keep that thing away from me and I'll go to him. Now," Lavi added anxiously. Mugen, much to his relief, returned to its owner's side.

Before Kanda could change his mind, Lavi hurried off.

Kanda felt his annoyance – and curiosity – increase. Just what was that imbecile planning to do? Couldn't he just mind his own business, instead of _bugging_ others? As he pushed open the door to his room, Kanda couldn't help but wonder.

Would the idiot really leave after hearing Lavi?

_Why should I care, anyway?_

Kanda shook his head, as though to shake his thoughts off. _Stupidity _really_ diffuses,_ he thought.

Yet he simply couldn't help but wonder…

Kanda found himself, hair untied and dressed in his sleepwear, outside Allen's door. He stood there, alone in the inky darkness of the corridor, unsure of whether to enter or to leave. He chose instead to glare at the door, as though that would help him come to a decision.

Had he gone mad? Was he really, really going to knock on that door and give the damn fool the satisfaction of succeeding?

Suddenly, he felt like whacking himself. What _had_ he been thinking, anyway, coming up in the middle of the night – 11.45 PM – just to find out what a fool had been planning?

He stepped back wards, wanting to leave –

And kicked someone.

"Ouch!"

Wait – that voice? Surely not _him_? _He_ was outside all this while?

A candle lit up – a single candle, stabbed in a badly-made, out-of-shape cream cake. The whole corridor, suddenly visible in the dim glow of the single candle, was empty, save for one stupid, white-haired, short, foolishly grinning idiot.

"I knew it! You came!"

"Shut up, fool -"

Kanda broke off his sentence as Allen flashed him a brilliant smile. That smile – so stupid, so carefree – effortlessly permeated the invisible, rock-solid, icy walls which always seemed to distance Kanda from the world. That smile, just barely visible over the dim glow of the lone candle, was all it took for the long-standing, restraining walls to disintegrate –

"Happy birthday."


End file.
